After Being Reborn, He Became an Undercover Agent by My Side - Chapter 5

“I never knew you were such a gentleman,” Jing Si said without a hint of courtesy. “What if I am? You’re such a fool. How could you possibly outsmart that traitor?”

Qin Lin tried to defend himself, but Jing Si lost patience. He waved him away. “This Prince won’t punish you. Go to the accounting office, settle your accounts, and find another way to make a living.”

Qin Lin gritted his teeth, seemingly unwilling to accept this, but he dared not anger Jing Si any further. He lowered his head and backed out of the room.

Shi Zizhuo stood by the window, gazing out. Beyond the chaotic bustle of the attendants, the scene was peaceful. There was no wind, no snow. He wondered where the assassin had gone.

Jing Si slipped on his shoes and walked up behind Shi Zizhuo, reaching out to close the window. “What are you looking at? It’s freezing.”

Shi Zizhuo’s body blocked half the window frame. Instead of stepping aside to reach the sash, Jing Si pressed himself against Shi Zizhuo’s back, using his body heat to warm himself. As he pulled the window shut, his arm brushed against Shi Zizhuo’s, sending a faint shiver down Shi Zizhuo’s spine.

Shi Zizhuo quickly reached out and bolted the window. “If you’re cold, go back to bed.”

Jing Si immediately wrapped his arms around Shi Zizhuo’s waist. “I can’t go back by myself. I’m freezing to death.”

“Freezing to death in just a few steps?” Shi Zizhuo exposed his lie. “Your Highness, you’re hotter than a charcoal brazier.”

As Shi Zizhuo walked toward the bed, Jing Si rested his chin on Shi Zizhuo’s shoulder, draping himself over him like he had no bones. He pressed his toes against Shi Zizhuo’s heels, clinging to him all the way to the bedside.

Shi Zizhuo leaned one knee against the bedframe, twisted his waist, and dumped Jing Si onto the mattress.

“Ouch,” Jing Si exclaimed. He wasn’t angry, though. Instead, he had the leisure to smile and say, “I see. You’re trying to kill me so you can take my place.”

Shi Zizhuo figured he was just being paranoid again, a chronic condition he knew was hard to cure. “Why would I take your place? So I can be targeted by assassins all day?”

Jing Si’s eyes darted. “Exactly. Since you’re my double, you should be the Prince, and I’ll wear the mask and act as the guard. That way, I’ll be safe.”

Shi Zizhuo wrapped him in the quilt and patted his chest dismissively, as if soothing a child. “Go to sleep.”

As Shi Zizhuo turned to leave, Jing Si shot up like a carp and grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”

“The assassin saw my face,” Shi Zizhuo said. “This is bad. Even if I’m disguised as you, they’ll know there’s another man who looks exactly like the Prince. They might try to kill you too. The snow stopped at night, but no matter how good his martial arts are, how could he truly leave no footprints in the snow? I’m going to check.”

“You can’t go,” Jing Si’s expression darkened, his gaze turning heavy. “Go to sleep.”

Shi Zizhuo’s temper flared. “Your Highness, if you’re forbidding me from going, you must have a plan. Tell me what it is. It’s better than us both dying together one day!”

Seeing his genuine anger, Jing Si’s expression softened, a hint of a smile appearing. “Death this, death that. You’re bringing a cloud of misfortune over us in the twelfth lunar month.”

Shi Zizhuo’s face remained cold. Jing Si sighed. “What if we catch him? Who’s to say he isn’t leading you into a trap? Or that this isn’t a feint to lure the tiger from the mountain?”

Shi Zizhuo understood the logic perfectly. He was simply filled with a rage he couldn’t vent since his rebirth. Now that he had a lead, he couldn’t hold back.

He still clung to a sliver of hope. “What if it’s not a trap? Wouldn’t we be letting him get away for nothing?”

“We have plenty of time,” Jing Si said, his gaze resolute. “This Prince will uproot them all, root and branch.”

His serious demeanor lasted only a moment before he feigned panic. “Oh no. What if you are one of those roots? Wouldn’t this Prince be walking straight into the tiger’s den?”

Shi Zizhuo’s eyes, hidden behind his mask, filled with exasperation. “Your Highness, you should have said that before you invited me into your bed.”

Jing Si’s intimate gaze gradually drifted downward. “It doesn’t matter. You can uproot me too.”

Shi Zizhuo felt like he was losing his mind.

With a blank expression, he pressed Jing Si’s head down onto the pillow. The pillow was hard, and Jing Si let out a muffled groan. Just as he was about to protest, he saw Shi Zizhuo’s gaze turn even more dangerous in the shadows of his mask.

Shi Zizhuo’s hand slid over the fingermarks on Jing Si’s neck. “The Sage said,” he warned, “speak no evil.”

“I never knew you were such a gentleman,” Jing Si replied, his smile unfazed.

Shi Zizhuo’s voice turned cold. “To flirt with someone on the first meeting… Your Highness is truly frivolous.”

“And what will you do?” Jing Si asked candidly. “Will you assassinate the Emperor? Or commit treason by attacking your superior?”

Shi Zizhuo could not bring himself to kill him, but he found this man’s behavior utterly bizarre.

In his past life, Shi Zizhuo had done many absurd and depraved things to lower the Emperor’s guard, yet he had never flirted with anyone. For one, he had no interest in others; he could pretend to be a libertine, but he couldn’t play the playboy. Secondly, if he had truly shown affection to others, he wouldn’t have been able to refuse the beauties sent to spy on him.

Yet the Jing Si before him was doing exactly that.

Shi Zizhuo’s gaze gradually darkened.

If he himself could change his identity, who was to say the man before him hadn’t done the same? Perhaps the real Jing Si was already dead.

At this thought, a sharp pain shot through Shi Zizhuo’s heart, and fury erupted within him. He threw off the blanket and pinned Jing Si down. “Fine. Let’s do it your way, Your Highness!”

With a sharp tug, he pulled open Jing Si’s robe, exposing his chest and abdomen.

Jing Si’s skin was fair and flawless, without a single mole on his body except for one on his lower back. Shi Zizhuo’s gaze swept over him. He felt he looked a bit more robust than he remembered, but since he had never paid much attention to his own body in his past life, and after his ordeal in the Ghost Realm, his memories were a bit hazy. He wasn’t entirely sure.

Jing Si complained, “What’s the rush? I told you it’s cold. Why can’t we just sleep peacefully?”

Shi Zizhuo ignored him. He twisted Jing Si’s hands and easily flipped him over.

Jing Si let out a startled cry, his voice full of complaints, but he didn’t struggle.

And so, the red mole on his lower back appeared obediently before Shi Zizhuo’s eyes.

Shi Zizhuo reached out and touched it. It didn’t feel like a tattoo. He leaned in closer, his hot breath brushing against Jing Si’s waist, making him shiver.

“Hey, you—” Jing Si’s voice was hoarse. “What exactly are you trying to do?”

Up close, it really didn’t look like a tattoo.

But what if it was the work of a master artist?

Still suspicious, Shi Zizhuo wasted no time and yanked down Jing Si’s waistband again.

Only then did Jing Si panic. He struggled a few times and turned on his side. “Are you serious?”

“Does Your Highness dare to act but not face the consequences?” Shi Zizhuo used the momentum of Jing Si’s struggle to pull his pants off.

A faint blush crept over Jing Si’s face, though it was hard to tell if it was from the red candle’s glow. Half in shame and half in anger, he kicked out. “How dare you!”

Shi Zizhuo seized the opportunity to push his way in, using his knee to nudge Jing Si’s thigh as he leaned down.

Jing Si’s eyes widened in shock. His mind clearly raced with wild thoughts, and he couldn’t hold back a shout. “You brute—”

The guards outside, who had just been reprimanded for their mistakes, immediately snapped to attention and were about to burst in. “Protect the Prince!”

“Wait!” Jing Si quickly raised his voice. “This Prince is fine! Do not come in!”

“Is Your Highness truly unharmed?” The men outside, worried they would be kicked out of the manor, dared to ask again, even if it meant getting scolded.

Shi Zizhuo looked down and saw the birthmark on the root of his own thigh. The mark was small and shaped like a plum blossom, yet not quite like one. He touched it several times, but it felt as smooth and warm as skin, revealing no clues. If this birthmark were a fake, it would be nearly impossible to leave no trace. There should have been some subtle difference in angle or shape, but Shi Zizhuo found none.

“It’s nothing!” Jing Si glared at Shi Zizhuo, his words clenched through gritted teeth.

The person outside the door could only reply, “Yes, sir.”

There was still one spot on the birthmark that Shi Zizhuo had not examined. He glanced at it but decided against doing so.

Shi Zizhuo had no romantic inclinations. Since he found no flaws on Jing Si’s body, he straightened his back and prepared to pull Jing Si’s trousers back up.

Jing Si snapped back to his senses. Taking advantage of Shi Zizhuo’s lapse in focus, he suddenly flipped over and pinned Shi Zizhuo beneath him.

“Who was it that just said the Sage taught us not to speak of improper things?” Jing Si smiled. “Does that mean it’s acceptable to look at improper things?”

Shi Zizhuo’s gaze was filled with reproach. “Is Your Highness suddenly deciding to act like a gentleman?”

Jing Si pressed his body down. “What? Is it only the officials who can set fires, while the commoners are forbidden from lighting lamps?”

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